The Best Use I've Made of a Muffin Tin in Months!

Heather of Humble Beads threw down the creative gauntlet -- fill a muffin tin with the raw materials for 12 projects, and complete them in a week.

As I wrote last time, this was a perfect focusing prompt for me, coming on the same day that I was packing for a long weekend in the mountains. I had been wondering what jewelry-related goodies to take along, so I packed up my muffin tin and hit the road.

Now, I tend to be an improvisational beader, usually surrounding myself with the raw materials and letting the inspiration strike. As I go along, if I need to reconsider the plan, I can always make a quick run back to the bead room to get other beads, different findings, more stringing materials....So, both planning twelve projects and pulling the appropriate bits and pieces for them (allowing for the inevitable "oh, dang, that's not gonna work the way I thought" change of plans), was an even bigger challenge.

Some of these are very simple, which isn't a bad thing. I took the pictures outside of the cabin I was in, so the lighting was what it was (a little shadier than optimal), and I really missed having a display bust to show how the necklaces hang....but hey, I was in the mountains, so it couldn't be all bad, right?

So here are the results -- three necklaces, two bracelets, and seven pairs of earrings. You may notice many of the art beads are the beautiful work of JulsBeads. I'd gotten a great set of earring pairs, and I'd been itching to use them, so this was a great excuse.

JulsBeads focal and faceted glass beads - this is my favorite of all the pieces that I did for this challenge

Furnace glass, macrame, Bali silver

Faceted glass, antiqued silver chain

Amazonite, brass filigree, upcycled vintage brass chain -
my favorite pair of earrings from this challenge

JulsBeads art beads, gold filled wire

Glass pearls, gold chain

JulsBeads art beads, Bail silver

JulsBeads art beads, vintage glass, Bali sterling with vermeil

Swarovski crystals, gold filled rings

JulsBeads art beads, vintage glass flower bead caps

carved rhodonite, vintage glass, brass, macrame

glass beads and about four too few freshwater pearls
This is when I really missed being able to run back to the bead room for a
couple more beads because I didn't pack enough!
(You can't see the other end of the bracelet because a proper lady never shows up
without being completely dressed. Okay, the real reason is that I cropped
the picture so you couldn't see my fingers holding up the pearls
on the incomplete strand...)

I had fun, and I learned a valuable lesson that I can share with you: if you are taking pictures outdoors on the side of a mountain, be prepared to climb down the mountain through the scrub to retrieve the jewelry when it falls off the tree branch you've so carefully perched it on. Dress appropriately...